Sunday, May 30, 2004

There's a record for that?...

So, A2 students out there amongst you, I hope you find something interesting and useful in the archives here to help you in your revision. But really, I'm talking to AS students this week - hey guys, it's done, time to kick back and relax for a week or two. Hope the exam(s) went okay.

So, for a little light linguistic interest, how about Gordon Ramsay and his swearing? While you've had your heads down in exam halls, he's been hard at it - first with Kitchen Nightmares and now Hell's Kitchen. But don't be fooled by the media buzz and fluff about the latter - it's Kitchen Nightmares that's the hard stuff. Because in it, Ramsay broke the previous record for broadcast swearing - 111 times in one half hour episode!

Some people will undoubtedly see this as a sign of contemporary moral failure; it's certainly a sign of what broadcasters think audiences will tolerate. But is it perhaps an indication that traditional expletives - especially the f-word - are becoming so commonplace in all forms of discourse that they are actually in danger, maybe not of dying out, but of losing the "magic powers" they had when they were taboo? Are new expletives being created to regain that shock value? Check out the links and post your thoughts...